July 12 2013

3:58 PM

Make that two Wisconsonites who will forsake next week’s Open Championship.

Steve Stricker, the 11th-ranked player in the world, announced his intentions to skip the year's third major when he set a limited schedule at the start of the year. He will celebrate his 20th anniversary with his wife, Nikki, in north woods of Wisconsin instead.

Now, fellow Madison, Wis., resident Jerry Kelly has his mindset on forsaking the John Deere charter jet, even if he claims the final spot in the British Open by winning this week.

Kelly, who moved onto the John Deere leaderboard with a 7-under second-round 64, said he didn’t bring his passport because he plans to head from Silvis to Nashville, Tenn., to watch his son Cooper pitch in a national 14-and-under baseball tournament next week.

“He would probably tell me to go,” Kelly said of his son. “But it would be really hard.”